Colorado State athletic director Paul Kowalczyk tops a list of athletic directors in the state in salary, according to numbers released by USA Today today.

The Rams athletic director makes $284,875, according to the newspaper, more than CU’s Mike Bohn ($253,500) and Air Force’s Hans Mueh ($165,300). Bohn’s salary is last in the Pac-12, which is topped by UCLA’s Dan Guerrero at $686,296.

Kowalczyk, who has been at Colorado State since 2006, ranks fourth in the Mountain West. New Mexico’s Paul Krebs leads the way in the MWC at $409,391.

They have their own issues to worry about in Fort Worth, TX, home of Texas Christian University. Starting in the secondary. But TCU’s defensive meltdown on Friday night in a loss to Baylor had farther-reaching effects in a Mountain West Conference thought until then to be not anything more than a two-team race.

Off the top, Boise State now looks like the prohibitive favorite. That’s not going to change, even if it loses to Georgia. Unless TCU can shore up all of the problems that plagued the defense, which gave up 50 points and 564 yards to Baylor, its Nov. 12 matchup against the Broncos in Boise is really not going to be any fun. Baylor is explosive. Boise State is better than Baylor.

But beyond that, it could have breathed life into a host of other schools looking to climb into the conference’s upper crust. Air Force suddenly appears to have an enormous opportunity to step right in and seriously challenge TCU for the chance to be the team whose game against Boise St. is a showdown for conference supremacy. And wouldn’t you know it, the Falcons get TCU at home next week in a game that could be a power-shifter in the MWC.

Air Force isn’t going to test the Horned Frogs secondary in the same manner that Baylor was able to, but the Bears also ran for 150 yards and averaged 4.2 yards per carry in the win. And a suspect run defense is something Air Force is fully capable of exploiting.

South Dakota is up first for the Falcons today, then onto the Horned Frogs, who will most certainly be fired up to prove that wheels-falling-off experience was a one-time occurrence.

Meanwhile, San Diego State is waiting in the wings, as possibly is Colorado State. Those two were picked to finish fourth and fifth in the conference, respectively. Both teams have high hopes for what they can be this season.

One thing is for sure: In just one week – yes, one – there is a very different view of what the Mountain West Conference is and can be. It’s a much more encouraging picture for every school looking to rise as close to the top as possible.

Air Force coach Troy Calhoun has been able to blend the rigors of a service academy and winning football.

Troy Calhoun is the perfect coach for the Air Force Falcons.

He’s been able to blend the rigorous demands of the service academy with the passions of college football.

More than 98 percent of Air Force football team members who participated in a game in either their junior or senior seasons under Calhoun’s guidance have graduated from the United States Air Force Academy.

In a season Colorado State hopes is a breakthrough campaign, league media remain a bit skeptical of how good the Rams can be. The media picked CSU to finish fifth in a new-look Mountain West conference that is in the first of a two-year transition.

The MWC, which adds Nevada, Fresno State and Hawaii next season, is an eight-team league this year with the departures of Utah to the Pac-12 and BYU, which went independent. CSU is looking to bounce back from a 3-9 finish last season, with just two victories in conference play. Newcomer Boise State, which visits Fort Collins on Oct. 15 to face the Rams, was named preseason favorite to win the MWC title.

When you have a good one, it’s best to stick with a name. Air Force Academy athletic director Hans Mueh isn’t ready to break from tradition and change the name of Falcon Stadium.

Air Force’s football playing site has been known as Falcon Stadium since it opened in 1962, but on occasion there have been suggestions to name the stadium after either coaches Ben Martin or Fisher DeBerry.

“It’s not to say that the two people we’re talking about don’t deserve recognition, but I think it’s best to stick with tradition,” Mueh said. “Everyone in the country knows our football field as Falcon Stadium.”

Major kudos to Air Force and Colorado State for making the Wall Street Journal list of 17 current FBS members who have not been slapped with a major NCAA infraction since 1953.

The Rams and Falcons are the only Mountain West members cited. Five more came from the MAC but only four (Stanford, Northwestern, Penn State and Boston College) from current automatic qualifying BCS leagues.

Before anyone says that infractions aren’t likely at a military academy, it’s worth noting Army and Navy aren’t on the list.

Given the turnover in compliance and administrative staffs, steering clear of trouble is obviously an institutional agenda. To wit, former CSU athletic director Jeff Hathaway ran a tight ship in Fort Collins but has has incurred ample NCAA wrath since moving to UConn.

Former University of Colorado men’s basketball standout Burdette Haldorson was named today to the 2011 class of the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame.

Among those joining Halderson in the 12th class are former Air Force quarterback Dee Dowis, high school basketball coaching legend Dan McKiernan, USA Hockey executive Dave Ogrean, disabled athlete Jeni Armbruster and the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team.

Formal induction will be Oct. 25 at the Colorado Springs World Arena.

Here is the bio of Haldorson supplied by the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame:

Burdette Haldorson

Haldorson, a Colorado Springs resident for over forty years, left an amazing imprint in the University of Colorado basketball record book. The Austin, Minnesota, native still holds four school rebounding records some five decades after his CU playing days, including the most in a half (21), game (31) and season (346). As a senior in 1954-55, he led the Buffs to the Big Seven title by averaging 23.9 points per game, and was also named as a first-team All-American.

CU eventually went on to finish third in the nation, losing at the Final Four to eventual champion San Francisco and the legendary Bill Russell. Haldorson earned two gold medals in 1956 and 1960 as a member of the U.S. Olympic team, went on to have a brilliant career in the National Industrial Basketball League as a member of the Phillips 66ers, the team entry for Phillips 66, which hired him after his playing career. He moved to Colorado Springs to form his own gas and oil distribution business in the late 1960s. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last summer with the 1960 Olympic Team, and is a member of the CU Athletic Hall of Fame and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

Denver's John Ryder, left, hits North Dakota's Brent Davidson during the WCHA championship game on Saturday. (Jim Mone, AP)

Air Force coach Frank Serratore reminded me of something that has occurred for the second time in four years. In addition to getting all three Colorado teams in the NCAA Tournament, Colorado has the most of any state. This two-prong success story also happened in 2008.

“More teams from state of Colorado than the three Ms — Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts,” Serratore said today. “Isn’t that something?”

Minnesota had just one school, Minnesota-Duluth, make the 16-team field. Michigan has two — Michigan and Western Michigan, and Massachusetts (after realizing Merrimack is in North Andover) has two — Merrimack and Boston College. New York also has two — Rensselaer and Union.

So kudos to Serratore, DU coach George Gwozdecky and CC bench boss Scotty Owens. Combined, you are more powerful than the proposed Big Ten hockey conference, which, ahem, has just one of its five teams still playing.

The rivals.com final 2010 rankings are out and 3-9 Colorado State checked in a 108th out of 120 teams.

A few more wins are on the schedule for 2011. Besides Northern Colorado, CSU’s slate includes No. 100 Utah State, No. 106 Wyoming (sure to fall with Austyn Carta-Samuels’ flight from Laramie), No. 111 UNLV, No. 118 New Mexico and last place San Jose State.

On the flip side there No. 3 TCU (remember, this is according to rivals, not the official polls) and No. 6 Boise State.

Incidentally, Air Force weighed in at No. 26 and CU, under new management, was No. 77.

Jimmer Fredette is now a verb in the state of Utah, as in “to get Jimmered.” According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah certainly was “Jimmered” when BYU’s other-worldly senior guard incinerated the Utes with 47 points in a 104-79 mismatch.

Watching highlights on The Mtn. (which has renamed BYU “The Jimmer Show” or “Jimmer and the Pips” ) it’s difficult to comprehend Fredette has done this for three seasons and still no one has a clue on how to stop him.

Credit the Mtn. for total professionalism. BYU, in a classic cutting off one’s nose to spite the face act, is leaving next year for the WCC in basketball. Part of the football-driven departure was dissatisfaction with the Mountain West’s TV package.

The Mtn. put together a Fredette post-game highlight reel, including multiple angles of Fredette’s midcourt shot to beat the halftime buzzer. It’s hard to imagine ESPN having the time to do that.

Fredette enjoyed a 32-point first half for the senior.

It wasn’t a fluke. Fredette was coming off a 30.5 point average against UNLV and Air Force, earning ESPN national player of the week recognition.

If anyone wants to see one of the best pure shooters in the game, BYU makes its final trip to Colorado State Jan. 22 and to Air Force Feb. 9.

And if the NCAA bracket falls right, Fredette could be back in March when the Pepsi Center hosts the first weekend of the Tournament.

In the “wrong move” department, Rebel Nation reported that UNLV all-Mountain West guard Tre’Von Willis said of BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, “He’s got all those accolades but he’s got to come in here and prove it.”

Oops.

Willis was talking after Monday’s practice about the preseason All-America lists. Fredette, incidentally, made the list of mid-season Top 30 candidates for the John Wooden Award.

Fredette came in and lit up the Rebels for 39 points, despite missing six of his first seven attempts. It was the most points scored on UNLV in nearly 12 years.

The Front Range, and the entire state of Colorado for that matter, have not produced many high-major Division I men’s basketball players in recent years.

But mid-majors seem to love our local talent.

But in its national recruiting roundup, Rivals.com gave a shout out to Denver-area AAU coach Dave Matthews for having five players from his Colorado Chaos summer program signing D-I scholarships on Wednesday.

Never mind the usual hype of the year/decade/century/millennium. Saturday’s TCU-Utah game matching Mountain West unbeatens is bigger than that.

ESPN GameDay will be in Salt Lake City, making the big event simply huge — and then some.

It is so big, make that enormous, that after the showdown between TCU and Utah (third and fifth in the BCS standings), these teams will never see each other again in a regular season league contest.

“It’s too bad it’s all going to be over here,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson of Utah’s departure to the Pac-12. “This is going to be a great Saturday it’s what football is all about.”

The implications are mind-boggling. If the winner remains unbeaten and ranks in the final BCS standings ahead of Boise State and if Oregon moves on to the national championship game, then Saturday’s MWC winner stands a good chance of landing in the Rose Bowl. That’s not bad for a league which originally sent its champ to the Liberty Bowl.

If the stars really align and the winner inches up into the BCS top two and the national championship game, someone should have the cardiac unit ready to revive MWC commissioner Craig Thompson.

“You have to win this ball game before you can think about (the BCS implications)” Patterson said. “If you don’t win this ball game, that part’s out.”

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, sticking to his vow of not discussing the PAC-12 move until this season is over, didn’t mention any nostalgia. He just talked about how many players on both sides had been in the series since the 2008 game. Unless one unwinds early on turnovers like the Utes uncharacteristically did a year ago in the 55-28 lost in Fort Worth, Whittingham expects the game to hinge on just a few key plays.

There are two key differences. The game is at Rice-Eccles Stadium. TCU’s starting quarterback Andy Dalton is a seasoned senior. Utah’s Jordan Wynn is a sophomore who had just moved into the starting lineup when the teams met a year ago.

The other coaches stayed away from the handicapping game.

“They’re both very, very good,” said AFA coach Troy Calhoun. “Both have guys on those respective units that are going to play beyond college.”

The TCU-Utah Nov. 6 Mountain West game of the year (if not century) will be a freebie for satellite and cable subscribers nationally.

CBS College Sports Network was the partner to land the premier game of the season between the teams currently ranked fourth and eighth nationally. A higher-priced tier in some markets, CBS College Sports will be free to DISH subscribers, Comcast homes and select other cable companies within the Mountain West footprint.

The free preview period began Monday and will include Saturday’s Air Force-Utah and TCU-UNLV doubleheader.

Every week, the Mountain West Conference polls fans to decide which game should be spotlighted as the “MWC Facebook Fans’ Football Game of the Week.”
The early balloting as of Monday morning:
BYU-TCU 63 votes (38.9 percent)
AFA-San Diego State 48 votes (29.6 percent)
Utah at Wyoming 45 votes (27.8)

And drumroll, please. UNLV and Colorado State combined have six parents, girlfriends or coaches’ wives voting for the Battle for the Basement.

At 5 foot 8 inches, 185 pounds, Air Force senior cornerback Reggie Rembert is one of the smallest players attending the Mountain West Football Media Day.

While some might dismiss his chances of playing any position in Division I football, Rembert is actively lobbying coach Troy Calhoun to line up at wide receiver, as well.

Rembert often plays on the offensive side when the Falcons are missing players for 7-on-7 summer drills. With all the summer military assignments and on-campus activities, it’s a wonder anyone has time for football conditioning.

“I’m kind of driven to make it happen,” Rembert said of his time management skills. “We have to find a way to work out. Whether we go one 1-on-1 or 7-on-7, some people have to play receiver who don’t normally play receiver.”

Rembert saw some action at receiver in 2008 but broke his hand last October on a kickoff return.

“He’d love to play kick returner, punt returner, nickel, cornerback and wide receiver,” said Calhoun. He won’t go both ways, at least not initially.

Besides Rembert’s campaigning, Calhoun said he also hears requests from the offensive staff.

IRVING, Texas — During Tommy Tuberville’s year-long hiatus from college coaching last year, one of the schools he visited was Air Force. He had gotten to know coach Troy Calhoun during a trip to the Middle East.

“Just being around those guys, they get an hour and a half a day to work in athletics and they look forward to it,” Tuberville said. “They look forward to running wind sprints because they’re in all those trig classes and calculus classes. Just looking at them and how much fun they had out there. They’re obviously there for a much more serious purpose than playing football but they use football to get some enjoyment.

“I think we can all go back to that. We all want to win and win championships. There’s a lot of pressure on all of us but these guys are only here for four years. Let them have some fun. We need to put back as much fun as we possibly can.”

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.